Born Helen Foster-Barham, Nell Shipman was born in Victoria, British Columbia on Oct. 25, 1892. In 1907, at the age of thirteen, she is said to have played an uncredited role for the Paul Gilmore company's production of "At Yale" in Seattle. She later married Canadian theater producer, Ernest Shipman, and began to achieve success as a screenwriter, director, and actor. She starred in several successful silent melodramas, including "Back to God's Country" in 1919, where she was in the first nude scene by a well-known actress. After her divorce in 1920, she launched her own production company, Nell Shipman Productions, and wrote, directed, produced, and starred in a number of outdoor adventure films. The animals that appeared in these films were trained by her. Later in life, she wrote short stories, novels, and screenplays. She died in Carbazon, California on Jan. 23, 1970.